NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (May 2021): Indicator have transferred Freddie Francis's Nightmare to Blu-ray, as part of their Hammer Volume Six: Night Shadows with The Shadow of the Cat, Captain Clegg, The Phantom of the Opera joining Nightmare. The image quality is significantly beyond the French Elephant film's Blu-ray from 2017. The UK 1080P is approaching twice the bitrate. It still has the 'CinemaScope Mumps' - - stretched horizontally ("The CinemaScope lenses were optically flawed, however, by the fixed anamorphic element, which caused the anamorphic effect to gradually drop off as objects approached closer to the lens. The effect was that close-ups would slightly overstretch an actor's face, a problem that was soon referred to as "the mumps".) The Indicator is tighter and more stable where the French counterpart image is more frail and clunky. The Indicator is clean with wonderfully layered-contrast. It's a notable upgrade in-motion.   

NOTE: We have added 50 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Indicator use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. It advances on the 16-bit Elephant Film audio transfer (DTS-HD.) This would be most notable in the dramatic score by Don Banks (The Brigand of Kandahar, Torture Garden, The Evil of Frankenstein, Rasputin The Mad Monk, The Mummy's Shroud, The Reptile), that has some intense moments coming through clean and authentically flat in the uncompressed rendering. Indicator offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'B' Blu-ray.

Where the Elephant films offered two French-language extras about Hammer films running about 10-minute each, 11 trailers - mostly similar genre films, a gallery and the package has a second disc DVD, the Indicator Blu-ray is stacked. First up is a new (2021) audio commentary with film historians Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby who provide essential details of the cast, Hammer, Freddie Francis, the cinematography, Jimmy Sangster's story with some interesting anecdotes relating to the production. They have the script with notes and changes that they comment on as well as it being Hammer's most female-centric effort and similarities to Gaslight. It's very informative and worth the indulgence. There is also a 1994, 83-minute BEHP audio interview with Freddie Francis running to the film. It's a career-spanning interview, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring Francis in conversation with Alan Lawson and Syd Wilson. Fans of the cinematographer, director will certainly enjoy his input. Indicator include a 2016 interview with Jennie Linden for 1/4 hour focusing on her memories of the Nightmare and 'Women in Love' (Ken Russell) actor. There is another interesting segment of Hammer’s Women. This 2021 one is about Moira Redmond providing a 10-minute profile of the film, television and theatre actor by critic and film historian Pamela Hutchinson. For 8-minutes we get a new appreciation by the critic and author Kim Newman who introduces ‘Nightmare’. Something Lurking in the Chords is a new 1/2 hour appreciation of Don Banks’ score by David Huckvale, author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde. Madhouse: Inside Hammer’s ‘Nightmare’ was made in 2016 and runs shy of 15-minutes with Hammer historians Alan Barnes, John J Johnston, Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby revisiting the production. ‘Nightmare’ in the Making is also from 2016 and is a 1/2 hour documentary with film historian Wayne Kinsey, featuring interviews with actor Jennie Linden, screenwriter Jimmy Sangster and art director Don Mingaye. Lastly, is an original theatrical trailer and image galleries of promotional and publicity material. The Hammer Volume Six: Night Shadows package has a limited edition exclusive 40-page booklet with a new essay by Emma Westwood, extracts from original press materials, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits.

Nightmare is firmly within Hammer's psycho-thrillers sub-genre - with creepy dreams inside an insane asylum. Jimmy Sangster's script is adeptly directed by Freddie Francis with prototypical Hammer charm. Another important part of Indicator's Blu-ray Hammer boxsets. This is easily the definitive 1080P edition of Hammer's Nightmare and we strongly recommended it, looking for ward to the other three films, The Shadow of the Cat, Captain Clegg, and The Phantom of the Opera, in Hammer Volume Six: Night Shadows. Essential for fans of the studio.

Gary Tooze